Call for 'archaic' Queensland bunny ban to be removed

Hayden started in 2013 as a cadet journalist on the Fraser Coast Chronicle before relocating to Fairfax Media in Tasmania three years later. Hayden joined the Queensland Times in November 2017 as a political journalist with a focus on Ipswich City Council. He has covered two state and one federal budget.

Magicians in Queensland can secure special permission from the State Government to keep the pet for business use.

Cr Pahlke said pet rabbits would be a hit with children and could help with therapy.

"A little bit of common sense should apply," he said.

Each year the Ipswich City Council pays the Darling Downs-Moreton Rabbit Board $130,000 to maintain a rabbit-hunting operation.

Ipswich councillors have asked for an update on the board's action in the region.

Darling Downs-Moreton Rabbit Board chief executive officer Tom Upton would not comment on Cr Pahlke's call for domestic rabbits to be allowed but said wild rabbits in Ipswich were mostly found near RAAF Base Amberley and Marburg.

"There's not a high infestation of rabbits in the broad area," he said.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, rabbits are Australia's most destructive introduced animal pest, costing about $1billion each year.

It noted although "desexed and contained rabbits pose minimal risk to the environment and agriculture, there are practical obstacles involved for the mandatory desexing of privately owned animals".